by Chandra Arulpragasam The first step in the implementation of the tenancy reforms under the Paddy Lands Act of 1958 was to identify the tenant cultivators to be protected. The second was to establish Cultivation Committees which were to be elected by the landlords and the actual cultivators. Both of these required a record of […]
Present times are so very dire that I decided to make my column this Sunday very light. I wrote last Sunday about the Samarasinghe family in Rambukkana who treat the many elephants in their possession very humanely in a traditional manner. In fact Carmini Samariasinghe, as I wrote, pioneered a project named the Millennium Elephant […]
T. M. R. Rasseedin General Secretary, Ceylon Federation of Labour (CFL) Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha de Silva in several talk shows over the electronic media persists in spreading a canard that Dr. N. M. Perera was the first to seek the assistance of the IMF for Sri Lanka. Nothing is further from truth than […]
by Chandra Arulpragasam Every young officer in the government service should serve some time in the provinces. This is necessary to observe the ways in which government services interact with the people – and to learn what the people think of them. It is also a good preparation for higher posts in the government, where […]
Posted on March 8th, 2021
KAMALIKA PIERIS
Philip Gunawardena is best
remembered for the
Paddy Lands Act of
1958. The main objective of this Act was to provide security of tenure of a
permanent and heritable nature and regulate the rents paid by tenants. However
its implementation was flawed owing to administrative deficiencies, observed
Nimal Sanderatne.
The first Paddy Lands Bill was
passed in 1953 under the UNP. It was a limited attempt at tenancy reform and
was focused on Hambantota and Batticaloa alone. Under this Bill, tenant and
owner should sign an agreement, valid for 5 years. Philip found that in
Hambantota, only two such agreements had been signed. Landlords avoided written leases. Without